Warp beam



Jan. l, 1952 Attorneys Patented Jan. 1, 1952 WARP BEAM Fred Eastwood, New Eltham, Leopoldv Lasch, Finchley, and Arthur Ernest Rogers, Earnworth, England Y Application September 30, 1949, Serial No. 118,908 In Great Britain October 4, 1948 4 Claims.Y (Cl. 242-124) 1 4This invention relates to warp beams used in looms. A beam consists oi a barrel portion on which the warp threads are wound and a pair 4of annular flanges spaced apart the correct distance, equal to `the total width of the warp. It may 'also be fitted with ruflles or one or both of the flanges may be provided with annular toothed rings which mesh with a pinion on the loom.

`'lhese provide a braking action to retard the struction of parts without undue difficulty, facilitating replaceability, and permitting adjustment of one or both of the flanges without requiring fine screw threads or the like adjusting means.

According to the invention we provide a warp beam having a metal ange the inner surface of which is at right angles to the axis of the barrel,

and the outer side of which is provided with a locating surface (or a series of surfaces) in a plane parallel to the inner surface and located between the inner and outer diameters of the flange and concentric with the axis of the barrel, a separate metallic ring having machine cut teeth and an abutting surface parallel to said locating surface and engaging against it, one or more inwardly projecting parts on the ring, meansfor attaching said parts to the flange, and means including a series of screw threadedelements for attaching the flange to the barrel in an axially adjustable manner. The locating surface `or surfaces may be formed on a rib or ribs cast integrally on the outside of the flange. In one form of the invention, the rib is annular and other ribs extend radially inwardly and outwardly of the annular rib, the outer ribs being of constant thickness axially and the inner ribs being of increasing thickness towards the inner diameter of the flange. The barrel may be in the form of a metal tube having a plug in each end, which plugs have abutment flanges adjacent to the ends of the tube and projecting radially beyond the tube, and the warp beam flanges may be mounted upon the tube and bolted to the projecting portions of the abutment flanges. By inserting distance pieces between the abutment anges of the plugs and the warp beam anges, accurate adjustment of the latter can be obtained in a robust manner. The warp beam flanges at ltheir inner diameters may have bosses or hubs carrying outward projections at some distance from the flanges proper so that the bolts can engage through holes in these projections and receive nuts located between these projections and the flanges proper.

Theinvention will now be more fully described by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawing which is a radial sectional view of one end of a warp beam made in accordance with the invention, only a halfsection of the flange and ring being shown.

The barrel I0 consists of a metal tube, fitted with a. metal plug II. The plug is fitted without any clearance between the interfaces and fastened to the tube by set screws I2 which may be covered bythe boss orhub I3 of the warp beam flange I6. The plug has an abutment flange Il' adjacent to the end of the tube and seating against the end of the tube. The plug carries a bearing axle I8. The abutment flange I1 projects radially beyond the tube. The boss I3 has an outward projection I9 at some distance from the flange proper I6 and threaded clamping elements in the form of bolts 20 engage through holes in these projections and receive nuts 2I located between this projection and the warp beam flange I6. Distance pieces can be placed between the abutment flange I1 and the projection I9 and the bolts 20 then tightened so that the two warp beam flanges can be accurately adjusted axially. The ends of the tube are accurately machined at right angles to its centre line. The inner faces of the abutment flanges I1 of the plugs and the outer faces of the projections I9 to the hubs of the Warp beam flanges are accurately machined again at right angles to the centre line of the warp beam. When the assembly is completed, the inner faces of the warp beam flanges which have been machined parallel to the outer faces of the projections to the hubs make right angles with the centre line of the warp beam.

The flange I6 is formed with an integrally cast annular rib 22 disposed concentrically between the inner and outer perimeters of the flange. The outer surface 23 of this rib is machined parallel to the inner surface 24 of the flange I6, and also has an annular seating surface 25. A ring 21 is provided consisting of a rim 281 formed with machine out teeth 29, an inwardly extending abutment flange 30, and an annular locating rib 3I. The flange 30 has its side faces parallel to 3 the surface 23 and is bolted thereto by bolts 32 with the rib located by -the seating 25.

The teeth areA adapted to mesh with machine cut toothed pinions attached to the loom, to provide the necessary retarding action on the beam when the loom is operating, thus providing the necessary tension in the warp threads and also to provide an automatic let-o motion. The toothed ring and the warp beam iiange can be replaced, if damaged, independently of each other, whereas with present flanges in which the toothed rings are made as integral parts, the complete flanges have to be discarded. Radial ribs 34 extend from the rib 22 ltothe hub and to the outward projection I9 thereon these ribs being of increasing thickness axially towards the hub. Other radial ribs 35 extend from the rnerv like rib 22 to the outer periphery of the flange which also has an annular stiffening rib 36. The ribs 35 are of constant axial thickness. Where ruilles are fitted to provide the retarding action in place of the toothed rings on the warp beam flanges, these may be fitted on to extensions of the plugs or on to the shaft or axles.

The separately cast rim can not only be accurately machined but may also be made of a metal different from that of the ange, e. g. the ange may be made of a magnesium alloy and the rim of steel or an aluminium alloy. Y

The warp beam may conveniently be made in aluminium alloy or magnesium base alloys, e. g. alloys known by the registered trade-mark Elektron and containing about 8 per cent aluminium and 0.25 per cent manganese or containing 3 to per cent zinc and 0.7. per cent zirconium.

The shaft or bearing axles however are made of steel and may be tted to the end plugs by means of keys or by pinning or by any other suitable means of connection. The toothed ring and the ruiiles are also made of steel, magnesium alloy, or other metal. If the ring is made of a magnesium alloy, the pinions should also preferably be made of the same material.

I claim:

l. A warp beam comprising a tubular barrel, a metal flange element slidably mounted on said barrel with its axially inner surface perpendicular to the barrel axis, an integral rib extending axially outwardly from the flange element and located between the inner and outer peripheries of said element, said rib having a rst locating surface at its axially outer side arranged in a plane parallel to the axially inner surface of the flange element, and a second locating surface arranged angularly with respect to said first locating surface, both said locating surfaces-.being concentric with the axis of the barrel, a hubless toothed metal ring demountably secured on said flange element and having a radially inwardly projecting part formed with surfaces seating on the locating surfaces of the rib, a member secured to the barrel and having a projection abutting the end of and extending radially outwardly from the barrel, a projection on the flange element having a radial surface parallel to an adjacent radial surface of the projection on said member, and means securing the projection on said flange element to the projection on the said member with their respective radial surfaces in predetermined relationship axially of the barrel.

2. A warp beam as claimed in claim l, wherein the second locating surface of the rib is arranged radially outwardly of the first locating surface and forms therewith an annular shoulder with which engages an annular recess formed by the co-operating seating surfaces of the toothed ring.

3.- A warp beam comprising a tubular barrel,

a metal flange element arranged with its axially inner surface perpendicular to the barrel axis and having an axially outwardly extending hub which is slidably tted on the barrel, an integral rib .extending axially from the opposite surface of the flange element and located between the inner and outer peripheries of said element. a toothed hubless metal ring, said rib and ring having co-operating seating surfaces for locating the ring on the rib, means for demountably securing the ring on the rib, a plug secured within the plug flange to locate the flange element at the desired position axially of the barrel.

FRED EASTWOOD. LEOPOLD LASCH. ARTHUR ERNEST ROGERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 548,442 Hutchins Oct. 22, 1895 1,715,967 Wattie June 4, 1929 1,856,298 Traver May, 3, 1932 2,493,902 Slocombe Jan. 10, 1950 l FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 1,031 Great Britain Apr. 6, 1867 1,258 Great Britain Jan. 17, 1906 

